Me,“you know those people burning stuff today? After the ghost festival which ends in about 2 weeks, the ghosts go home to purgatory hell and then a lady flies to the moon. Don’t argue with this logic, it’s 4,000 years old. The Chinese* have 2,000 years on Jesus.”

Pedro, “….

…why is this tom yum flavoured?”

Yes. I think my favourite bit about Vietnamese mooncakes is that they come in savoury flavours, and varieties include a shelf-stable snowskin! Unlike the real snowskin mooncakes from Hong Kong which are served cold, the Vietnamese ones are made of glutinous rice and called “bánh dẻo” or “sticky rice mooncake”.

I scored myself a thập cẩm flavoured mooncake, which is Sino-Vietnamese aliteration of the Cantonese word 什錦, which is mostly used to describe stir frys. In the Vietnamese version of the word and in mooncakes, it’s a mix of salty and sweet, including meat and candied orange peel. Don’t knock it till you try it. Other savoury flavours I’ve seen include roast pork and the aforementioned, tom yum.

In the north of Vietnam, it seems that the tradition includes dogs made out of pomelo!

For those of you not in the know about mid-autumn festival, I recommend experiencing once in your life. It includes lanterns, pomelos and lots of tea. and mooncakes.

The nature of Singapore’s food is well documented on the surface. Lots of immigrants converged on a former swamp and created delicious hybrid food. You will find loads of articles about Kristang and Peranakan food – about fish head curry (Indian-Singaporean) and popiah (Chinese-Singaporean).

But what about the ingredients that are uniquely Singaporean?

How did jicama end up in popiah? How did Singaporeans ever start eating fish heads?

Home cooking isn’t glamorous enough to be sold in hawker stalls, but has also experienced hybridisation. How else can I explain harissa in a family stir-fry recipe?

Which brings us to taucheo, fermented soy beans used in home cooking.

The case of taucheo

“The earliest reference to a relative of jiang in Southeast Asia was by the Dutch scientist Prinsen Geerligs in 1895 and 1896.”

Having spent most of my life living away from Singapore, I’ve also spent a lot of my life seeking out ingredients that I will never be able to find.

On my hunt for taucheo, I realised that it has its own Wikipedia page, and is an ingredient native to Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Down the rabbit hole, I realised that fermented soy products have a pretty serious following on the food etymology trail.

“Soybean jiang has long been used in Malaysia (where it is called tau-cheo or tau-chio ) and in Thailand (where it is called tao-chio or tau-cho cheaw ), but little is known of the history or present status of these products.”

Yes, yes, you can’t really find them because everyone is using it at home and searching for recipes under “taucheo” or er, “salted soy beans”. No really.

My best guess is that intrepid new Chinese migrants tried to recreate doubanjiang, realised it wasn’t working, named it taucheo, then started chucking it into stir-fries. It wasn’t long before they were really getting into it and using it everywhere because who doesn’t love umami?

So now that you know all this, how do you find it?

If you live anywhere with an Asian grocery, you may be able to find this. You can use miso as a substitute in a pinch, but the texture will be different, and taucheo is sweeter.

And how do you make it? Luckily for me, a Singapore food blog stalwart has preserved his grandmother’s recipe. Uncle Phil doesn’t update as regularly as he used to, but I’ve copied the recipe here in full. I’ll make tweaks to it when I make it myself!

Uncle Phil’s Grandmother’s Taucheo Recipe

2 cups soyabeans
6 cups water
1/3 cup sea salt

To make two cups of soya bean paste, soak the soyabeans in cold water overnight or at least 8 hours and drain.

Heat a wok over medium high heat and add soaked soyabean to toast for about 30 minutes. Making sure the soyabean is not burnt and set aside to cool.

Place the soyabeans in a paper bag and roll over with a rolling pin or a wine bottle, to remove the skins. Discard the skins.

In a big pot, add the soyabeans with 6 cups of water. Bring it to a high boil and immediately decrease the heat to medium low heat to prevent boilover.

Boil gently for about 2 1/2 hours or until soyabeans become tender. Transfer the soyabeans onto a bamboo tray lined with cheese cloth.

Cover loosely with banana leaves and keep in a very warm place to ferment for 5 days.

In a bowl, combine the fermented soyabeans and mash with the sea salt. Transfer the the soyabeans to a earthen or ceramic jar with a lid. After mellowing for a week, they ready to be used but it best kept in a refrigerator to turn into taucheo. Store in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator and they will keep fresh for months.

North Korean restaurants hit the news recently, when the entire staff of a North Korean restaurant in China defected en masse.

Enthralled by the tale, I started reading up about these restaurants. Like everything else from the Hermit Kingdom, details are difficult to come by.

A Swedish journalist reports that these restaurants are part of the North Korean government’s money generating arm, known as Room 39. It’s definitely the least morbid part of Room 39, and potentially its most legal.

South Korea’s government believes there are over 100 restaurants in over 12 countries, with the majority located in China and Southeast Asia.

While all the restaurants put on a cultural show each evening, the type of entertainment varies. The shows themselves consist of multiple song and dance routines, usually of the traditional North Korean variety; although there are reports of a Beatles cover band in Yangon.

The staff are always pretty young women, chosen for their musicianship and strong ties to North Korea to reduce the risk of defection.

A visit to the North Korean restaurant in Saigon

I was pretty excited at the prospect of visiting a North Korean restaurant and booked in as soon as I found out about the restaurant. The experience turned out to be just as strange as I thought it’d be. Twin Peaks meets Fargo would probably be the closest I could get to explaining it.

When we arrived, we were greeted by our North Korean hosts and immediately asked where we were from. Our host was jotting this down on a clipboard, which proved mildly terrifying.

When it came to my turn, the response “Australia” clearly didn’t satisfy them. Gesturing to their faces, they actually said, “but your face!”. I smiled and shrugged.

The tension was palpable in there, but Mr Dumpling inadvertently cut through it when he pointed to a laminated A4 sign on the wall with Korean script all over it.

“What’s that?” he asked,

“Health tonics”, our hosts started giggling.

One of them slipped away before returning with a box. “Health tonics” turned out to be herbs to help with bedroom performance.

Mystery solved, we turned our attention to the very large menu.

The food

The North Korean specialties of raengmyŏn, cold noodles made from buckwheat, potato and sweet potato, and dog stew were on offer.

Sadly, we were only game to try the raengmyŏn, since our table was full of dog lovers.

Other than that, most of the food resembled South Korean dishes and were pretty familiar.

The entertainment

What we were all there for was of course, the entertainment, and entertained we were.

The crew assigned to Saigon took a cultural approach, and decided to school us in North Korean ways. From the opening greeting song in traditional dress to the North Korean state-sanctioned songs, the oppressive silence and no photos policy suddenly gave way to an 80’s-era variety show with photography encouraged. We were transported to a world very different from our own.

The highlight for me had to be a very talented hostess who played Arirang on the gayageum and started riffing. She was also the drummer of the band, and had a great singing voice. I did wonder what she would have done if she had grown up in a different country. Maybe not taken up music lessons at all?

As suddenly as it had started, the entertainment ended. The fluorescent lights came back on and the costumes were off. Soon, we were ushered out. And while the door wasn’t literally shut on us, it may as well have been, as our hosts immediately turned their attention back to the people remaining.

Outside, we stared at the looming apartment block next to the restaurant.

“This is most likely where they stay,” my friend gestured with a cigarette in hand.

“What makes you say that?” I ask.

“I did some reading online, they’re not allowed to go out except for some basic shopping. They don’t get to move much.”

As we contemplated the lives of our hosts, another friend emerged from the bathroom, “I didn’t see any cameras in there!”

“I’m sure there are.” The rest of us chorused.

“Who wants dessert?” I asked, keen to chat about our experience without being watched.

I’m a nerd

I’m a bit of a nerd, and love reading food books. I like to know about food (and everything, really), where it’s from, what makes it work. J. Kenji López-Alt is my hero. I knew I loved him when I read about his wife begging off chocolate chip cookies.

I’m that annoying person you meet who wants to learn a skill or take a course just because they want to know things.

I might come across as a bit of a wanker

My poor partner has to put up with my weird pronouncements and wanky sounding proclamations all the time. “I want to pick up pottery”, “Let’s visit Bhutan! They have a National Happiness Index.” or “I want to study Spanish, it’s one of the most-spoken languages in the world!”.

It’s worse when it comes to food. “I want to try the cau lau in Hoi An. The noodles are made with ash only found in the region, with well water from slightly out of town.”. It works both upmarket and down market, I once made the poor man queue for over an hour for some doner kebab in Berlin. (Mustafa’s. The trick is to buy the also-famous currywurst, then eat it while in line for the kebab. He didn’t think it was worth it, because he doesn’t queue for anything, I really like it. Incidentally, have you heard about how currywurst came about? No, don’t encourage me.)

ANYWAY. Now that you know how much I research everything that flits by me, it’ll come as no surprise that I started a list of foods to try.

I’m on a mission to eat all of the food

I started a list with the mission to try at least one new thing per week. I’ll see if I can post regularly!

A photo posted by One Star House Party (@onestarhouseparty) on Sep 29, 2016 at 9:29am PDT

THESE GUYS.

Their plan is to travel the country for a month, learning about the ingredients and indigenous ways of cooking. This culminates in a pop-up restaurant that lasts a week before they move on to the next country.

You can watch their progress on the official website. If you want more in depth updates, Facebook and Instagram prove pretty enlightening.

The friends started out in Hong Kong and had so much fun that they decided to take it on the road. The idea caught the imagination and even led to a New York Times writeup.

When I spoke to Kevin, one of the intrepid six, as I shall refer to them from now on, they’d already gotten themselves into some crazy situations.

For their Vietnamese endeavour, they had planned on riding the length of the country on motorbikes, Top Gear style. During that month, Trish, one of the team, broke her leg after being thrown off the bike. She had to be carried around for most of the way,but stayed on the trip and was seen playing a very fine hostess on the evening.

The team bought kevlar pads after that, but another accident sent Kevin skidding on all fours on his pads, while his bike went in the other direction.

YEEEEIKES. And here I am, four months into my move to Vietnam, still refusing to learn how to ride a bike, while these guys having ridden the length of Vietnam!

The Visit

I dropped into their Vietnam pop-up purposely not been following their progress on social media as I wanted to surprised.

I knew the basics: they are chefs, they usually live where they host to save costs, they’re bootstrapping each new location with the earnings from the previous dinner.

Because I hadn’t done my research, I wasn’t prepared for the 45min taxi ride through narrow hems (Vietnamese alleyways) that led to a beautiful furniture showroom where they were holding their pop-up. It turns out one of the crew knows the owner of the showroom – and so there, amongst the fabric and leather swatches, fancy furniture and designer light fittings, was where we had our dinner.

Greeted by the intrepid six, their translator and their rotating intern for the night, what followed were seven courses, mostly served in pairs.

What impressed me most about One Star House Party wasn’t their amazing food, but their sense of adventure, passion, and resilience. The team’s genuine curiosity about the world around them and willingness to engage were really inspiring.

At one point during the trip, they somehow convinced a barbecued pork seller to allow them to help out at her stall. For their pop-ups each evening, they called in a local hawker to make rice pancakes for their customers. They also constantly post fun facts about food, which really endears them to me.

They have also embarked on a plan of getting interns to work with them at each location, in the hopes of a cultural and gastronomical exchange.

I have no doubt this is something they’ll continue to do, as they cook and discover across the globe.

I’m only here for the quickest of quick visits, so I’ve lumped everything in one post.

Co Working Spaces & Wi-Fi Access in cafes

I should point out that co-working spaces in Hong Kong require a good deal more forward planning that I actually did. I flew to Hong Kong on the fly and didn’t really have time to do any research – I’d originally thought that I could just wing it.

It turns out that you need to book in with most coworking spots in HK. I belatedly applied for a few spots on the first day I was here, but was only here for 2 days, meaning that I never got around to visiting the coworking spaces. Having said that, I received very prompt replies from the places that I applied for.

Only a handful do day passes, and the cost is at about $300HKD per day (as of September 2016).

Here’s who I contacted and who responded quickly:

Garage Society (lightning fast!). If The Hive is the grand dame, Garage Society is the cool kid. There are some exciting companies working out of their offices, including General Assembly.

The Hive – of course they did. They’re the grand old dame of coworking spaces. 5 storeys or architect-designed space. I even received a welcome pack including pictures of the space. Lovely. This is a smooth operation and it shows.

Apparently the spot to work from if you’re a writer, applying for jobs or working from cafe in general. There weren’t too many power points (the only one I saw was taken), but the area is lovely – quiet, there’s an air conditioned area as well as an outdoors area. Bonus points – it’s pet friendly. I rate this place, mainly because of the consistent wifi, but also sort of because I got to pat an awesome corgi named Marty.

Be warned. Peel Street is fairly steep. It’s kind of like Crocodile Dundee saying, “that’s not a hill, THIS IS A HILL”. Or maybe just reminiscent of San Francisco/Dubrovnik.

You can saunter down the hill and discover lots of cool cafes too.

A failed attempt

Please note that I tried to visit Capo’s Espresso – a promised land of free wifi in an Aussie style cafe and ended up at To Good*, a Hong Kong street food eatery tethering while my GM laughed at me as I had a conference call. Luckily, he has a sense of humour and my LTE held up! Needless to say, Gato is closed, and seems to have been for a long time.

About

This is a stunning workspace you can drop in to, payment is of course in food and drink. It’s currently my favourite place to work from in Saigon, along with Work Saigon. No I’m not being paid to say this.

There seems to be a Man In Charge who saunters about wearing an earpiece, he’s also in charge of the dubious music choices that always seem turned up to LOUD. Pack headphones, you may need them.

Another tip is there is only 1 toilet cubicle for women/disabled and 1 for men. If you’re feeling a little bit rushed, there are toilets just outside Work, across the way.

Directions

This one’s a no-brainer for flying visits. It’s in Bitexco, the tallest building in Saigon. No Uber or taxi driver has any excuse for not knowing where this is.

Does It Serve Food

Mainly pastries and cookies. They also serve smoothies and fizzes.

Lunch Rush

None, because it mainly serves pastries.

Wi-Fi

You have register your email address just once. It used to kick you out every hour, but seems to have stopped recently.

Power Points

Mucho multo. If you’re on the shared work desks (your most ergonomic option), ask for an extension cord from the cashiers if it’s not already set up.

Ergonomics

Yes! Chairs, sofas, a bleacher of sorts with cushions and if you’re over 6ft, perhaps some standing desk kind of areas (provided you don’t need to type too much).

Oh god the things they don’t tell you when you’re in a new country because it seems so blatantly obvious.

Hunting down a drinking water supplier has been a 2 week saga, and I only figured out how to do this because I um, asked a barista at a cafe. I kid you not. I walked up to a stranger and said, “hey, you work in the area I live in, how do you get your drinking water?”.

Luckily for me, the barista took pity on me and instead of saying, “go get your own honey smacks” actually gave me a straight answer.

So apparently this is how it works.

Each area has a drinking water supplier. I kind of imagine them to be godfather-like dons, cackling as they roll around with their hundreds of kegs of water, holding desperate thirsty people to ransom.

Anyway, you track one down, then you order a dispenser and two of these bottles of water for the dispenser because they don’t deliver just one. When you get one, it becomes markedly easier from then on as they paste their name and contact number on the dispenser.

You then text every time you need a delivery…and pay in cash.

making it rain

Is this sounding more and more like a drug deal? Yes, I thought so. Refer to Godfather reference above.

This is after I was told my dispenser was out of stock the previous week and they’d call me when it was back in.

So I ordered my water, they called to confirm, and they wouldn’t give me a time for when they’re delivering the water. It was “sometime today or tomorrow morning”.

Well then, don’t mind me while I slowly mummify in the corner.

What do you do if you’re out? You know, like if you have a full time job? Is taking a day off from work to receive your water a legitimate thing?

Luckily, I live in an apartment with a concierge, so it won’t be that big of a drama. I’ll just do some crossfit training with 2 x 20L bottles whenever I get home. It’ll be fine.

I can’t open a bottle of Doritos salsa mind you, but I’ll be fine. Just fine.